Carlos Soto met Maria Desbordes in Brittany during Celtas Cortos’ last tour. She replaced a member of the band with uillean-pipes and whistle. Together they started to create a mixture of Breton folk music and sensitive electronic music. It was a matter of researching in the look for new sounds while using ancient instruments, such as uillean pipes and flute, combined with the beauty of the almost elf-like Armoric sounds, an innovating way of singing and some sax solos in the line of Jan Garbareck. All in all, for Awen Magic Land the “celtic trip” had started, and it immediately became a magic flight beyond sound and time.

Our search offered us the opportunity to meet different musicians from Brittany and Spain. We did all the recordings using our portable studio (we have named it “The Search”).

This way, we were nourished by the energy of different places, by the strength of the wind and the sea of Brittany, by the magic of their woods, by the hubbub of the cities with their vibrating rhythm, by the impressive presence of the Pyrenees, by Murcia’s hot spring... differents landscapes, different people who have provided an unique wealth to the project.

Our strong background in production enables us to produce our own material. With Celtas Cortos, Carlos had been working in different studios with several producers as Juan Ignacio Cuadrado and Suso Saiz. Maria was born surrounded by music. Her father Christian Desbordes, composer and arranger (awarded in United Stated with “Indie Award for the best seasonal music”), has a recording studio surrounded by woods, at the Breton Finisterre. Maria spent her childhood watching her father composing and mixing. Awen Magic Land, the magic place of inspiration, is an open space where the sounds make the mind fly. It is music for a journey into our imagination, to dream and to discover new colours, new lands, new spaces inside ourselves and into others.

The first showcase in France by Awen Magic Land will take place on the 9th of December in Landerneau, the home of the “Festival Kann Al Loar” and the “Cornouaille Festival”. During that week, Landerneau will welcome musicians and artists involved in the project. They will work together for the first performance of the festival.